Long March carrier rocket blasts off with 14 satellites

China launched a Long March 2D carrier rocket on Sunday morning to transport 14 satellites into space, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the nation's dominant space contractor.

The rocket lifted off at 11:14 am at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi province and placed the satellites, including Qilu 2 and Luojia 3-01, to their preset orbits, the State-owned company said in a press release.

Long March 2D, designed and built by the Shanghai academy, is propelled by liquid propellants and has a liftoff thrust of 300 metric tons. It is capable of sending a 1.3-ton spacecraft to a sun-synchronous orbit with an altitude of 700 kilometers.

To carry the 14 satellites, which were built by seven institutes and enterprises, the rocket's designers developed a new small-satellite adapter that can be a solution to future launches tasked with carrying many small satellites, according to the company.

The launch marked the 462nd flight of the Long March rocket fleet and China's fifth rocket liftoff in 2023.